Debated Loud House episodes
So, as the show has gone on, it seems that The Loud House has produced a couple of episodes that have people split on whether they're good or not - April Fools Rules and One of the Boys. I like the former, but I dislike the latter. April Fools Rules In this episode, it's April Fools' Day and the resident prankster of the house, Luan has decided to booby trap the entire house. A lot of people don't like this episode for that very reason - they say that Luan was very unlikeable. But I dunno, I kind of liked this episode and I think it's one of the better Luan performances. Whether you like the episode or not, it was a pretty clever plan (I don't want to spoil the... twist I guess). I guess it's in contrast to how I feel about Luan usually, or rather... how the show treats her. In a cast with 11 main members (12 if you count Clyde), it's pretty predictable that some characters get regulated to the sidelines. And unfortunately, I think that Luan gets this the worst. In episodes that specifically deal with one of the Loud Sisters, Luan only has two in the first season, Funny Business and this one April Fools Rules. She definitely needs some more screentime, beyond giving a pun here, the place where she's all too-often regulated too. That might be a criticism of the show as a whole - when one of the characters isn't in focused, they're usually just there to be their stereotype. And Luan's stereotype of "making puns" kind of gets old. There are other types of comedy, which could really use attention. A lot of people have problems with the pranks getting... a little bit too dangerous, but I don't mind it. It seems over-the-top and cartoonish enough to not really give me any negative vibes towards the episode. What I like about this episode far outweighs what I don't, and I hope that in season 2, they give Luan more to do, for lack of a better term. On the other hand. One of the Boys I really don't like this episode. It's my least favorite of the first season, and the show so far. Not that this one didn't have potential, but it's clear that this episode went for concept over execution and... really, really didn't think things out. And it did a lot of things that I was afraid the show would do in its overall concepts. Okay, let's start with the obvious: Lincoln Loud: Girl Guru: "all of us girls are not the same, and each of us are different." One of the Boys: "all of us boys are the same, and we each embody our stereotypes to a tee. And we aren't really as diverse in personality." In the second half of the episode, every single one of the Loud Brothers starts embodying stereotypes. Luke basically becomes a middle school bully because... that has anything to do with anything. And everyone starts acting like an asshole because "boys will be boys." The only time before that that the characters break from their stereotypes is to be "tough" or "gross" or "rough." As the wiki says, it ends up like Lincoln has 10 Lynns instead of 10 brothers. I know this sounds nitpicky, but I expect better from this show, which has proven that it is excessively good at avoiding and navigating around stereotypical depictions of both boys and girls in other episodes. This concept has been done many times before, and it seems more of an excuse for character design than telling jokes or a story. Because this episode really does reek of squandered potential. How would this world have changed the more feminine of the Loud sisters? Lola's alternate version Lexx, for example. It would be... really interesting for them to give him more screen time, but he barely has a single line of his own when he's not in the group. And I don't think I'm crying wasted potential for the sake of it. I think that the episode needed something like that. This episode is devoid of balance. I mean, ignoring the stereotypes it's like the Loud brothers for the first half of the episode are completely different characters from the Loud brothers in the second half of the episode. And in the end, we have a gag where Lincoln wakes up as a girl. Which honestly could have been its own episode instead of one throwaway gag. And then it ends up being a dream. If North taught us anything, it's that "it's all a dream" doesn't really excuse unfortunate implications (not that this episode is anywhere near as bad as that movie). I'm not insulting by it being a dream. I think that it's excusable in this context, and they've done this before with Butterfly Effect, but it doesn't make anything else about the episode really good. I actually have more of a problem with the beginning. This episode is 11 minutes long, and Lincoln gets into the alternate "dimension" about four minutes in. And a quick aside, can be please stop calling alternate universes "alternate dimensions"? "Dimension" and "universe" are not synonymous. Dimensions refers to height, width, length, and time (we have four dimensions in our universe). While the beginning felt very well paced, everything else seemed too rushed, and like they didn't use their time wisely. I dunno, what do you guys think about these episodes? Are there any others that you took issue with? Category:Miscellaneous